News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-04-14
CREMATION IN ALASKA.
Curious Customs that Follow Death
Why the Bodies Burn Well.
from the Alaska Free Press

|
Having had information the other day
OF cremation to take place at the Indian
village, went to the beach to witness
it. The defunct siwash was known
around Janeau as Frank, and was for
merly employed at Martin Bros. store
in the capacity of Indian clerk, and the
HICKMAN Ct being double cremation
OF one of each seX) had been called Jen-
ME; both, as it happened, having died of
consumption. The mourning service
consisted of the ancient ceremony known
as "potlatch, which is always custom
airy among the Indians of southeastern
Alaska on the occasion of death of one
of their number. The potlatch is a
division of whatever temporal goods the
deceased may have possessed, such as
blankets, dry goods, &C., among his or
her relations, according as the merits of
each individual case may justify.
In the services of the mourning, which
are very long, and to the Indian mind
very impressive, the first in the order of
the day is eulogistic discourse by one of
the old men, which, being delivered by
him in sections, SO to speak, is taken p
and sung by the rest in a monotonous
sort of chant; the old man is then super
seeded by another venerable buck, who
| goes through the same service, and he
in turn by another, until all the old men
have had their individual say. The
chanters keep time by humping on the
floor with sticks and beating on drum.
This performance being gone over for a
day or two, the potlatch takes place.
The body of the deceased is first wrap
ped in a mating, woven from split roots,
and in appearance resembling coarse
straw. They then convey the body to
the place of cremation, which is always
ON the beach at high-water mark. On
| this occasion they had ON hand for the
purpose of burning the two bodies,
about one cord of wood, some split and
some i'll small logs. First platform of
small logs is laid foot from the ground,
and a space of four inches between each
log. On this pyre, which was about
seven feet long by five feet wide, the two
! bodies were placed, about three feet
apart, and around them a miniature log
hut was built to height OF four feet;
| the enclosed space is then carefully filed
III with split wood and fine kindhng,
and now, everything being in readiness,
the fire is lighted from the bottom. The
native diet being chiefly salmon, an oily
substance, the bodies of the Indians
seem to contain considerable amount
of oil, as they burn very readily. While
the corpses were charing, the friends of
the deceased continued to poke them
with long sticks, occasionally raking the
! fragments of burnt flesh from the fire
and wrapping them in skins, blankets,
&c. Returning from the cremation of
the two natives, I heard singing in ma
tive house, and dropped in to see what
was going on.
There was quite an assemblage of ma
tives squatted around a small fire in the
centre of the room, and at one end of
the house the corpse of an old woman
lay, covered with sheet and blankets.
All around the room was strung up
muslin, pieces of calico, and a few blan-
kets; also three umbrellas, ETC., all of
which will be distributed among the
relatives and near friends. Then the
process described above will be gone
! through.